


The Phone Call (Or: Why the team totally owes Tara a huge favor now)

by meils121



Category: Leverage
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 08:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12980451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meils121/pseuds/meils121
Summary: Tara gets a strange call from Sophie.  When all she hears are gunshots, she realizes the team is in trouble and she's the only one who can rescue them.





	The Phone Call (Or: Why the team totally owes Tara a huge favor now)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [babythor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/babythor/gifts).



            A shrill, incessant noise wakes Tara much too early on a Saturday morning.  She fumbles around on the nightstand until her hand hits her phone, but it’s too late.  She’s already missed the call.

            “Damn it.”  Tara sits up in bed and actually focuses on the screen.   _One missed call from Sophie Deveraux_ flashes across the screen.  There’s a little ding, signalling that Sophie has left her a message.

            Sophie knows Tara well enough to know that Tara is not a morning person.  She’s especially not a weekend morning person.  So for her to even call is a little odd.  

            Tara puts her phone on speakerphone and plays the message as she leans back against her pillows.  There’s a strange noise that sounds like heavy breathing, followed by a few distant shouts and the unmistakable sound of a gun being fired - once, then twice.  Then the message stops.

            “What the hell?”  Tara’s a little alarmed now, but it is Sophie and this isn’t totally out of the ordinary for her.  She calls Sophie and waits as the line just rings and rings.  It finally goes to voicemail.  Tara tries three more times.  Nothing.

            Now she’s getting more than a little worried.  She listens to the message a second time, hoping that she missed Sophie saying something, but it ends just as abruptly as it did before.  The sound of the gunshots echoes in Tara’s ears.  

            Tara’s awake now.  She pushes the cover off and stumbles towards the kitchen for a cup of coffee.  It’s not until she’s halfway through her second cup that she notices it’s only 5 in the morning.  Something is definitely wrong.

            Okay.  First things first, she needs to get the call traced.  Then she needs to head up to Portland.  She picks up her phone again and scrolls through her contacts until she hits the Rs.  

            “Ryan, I’m calling in a favor.”  She says when a groggy FBI colleague picks up.  “I need a plane to Portland, as soon as possible.  And I’m sending you a phone number to trace.  I don’t want anyone else involved.”

            “That’s two favors.”  Ryan points out, and Tara had been hoping that he would be too sleepy to notice.  

            “Fine.  Two favors.  Just do it, okay?”

            “Yeah.  Head the the airfield we always used.  You should be in Portland by 8.  I’ll get to work on the trace.”

            “Thanks, Ryan.”

            It takes Tara five minutes to dress and pack.  She doesn’t know what she might find in Portland, so she takes a little bit of everything just in case.

            The plane ride is uneventful, and Tara lands in Portland ready to figure the whole thing out.  She tries calling Sophie again, and then, for good measure, calls every other member of the team.  Nothing.

            The brew pub is, unsurprisingly, closed this early in the day.  Tara’s glad that she’s got the security code, because otherwise breaking in would be a bit of an ordeal.  She knows just how much security Hardison’s put in the place.

            It’s a little eerie walking into the back room and not seeing Parker hanging from her rig or Hardison drinking an orange soda.  Tara’s never actually been here without the team there as well.  She searches the room as best she can, looking for any information on what the team might have been doing before Sophie called her.  But, of course, Nate is a paranoid bastard and the whole room is free of anything that might incriminate them.  The best Tara can find is one of Sophie’s sweaters hanging off a chair.  

            Tara’s phone rings for a second time that day.  “What’d you find?”  She asks Ryan.

            “Hello to you too.”  There’s the sound of fingers on a keyboard.  “Not much, to be honest.  The phone was in Portland the last time it was used.  It’s either off or destroyed.”  He rattles off the address.  “Last call it made was to you.  Before that, it called a number belonging to a Kevin Drummond.”  Ryan gives her that address too before hanging up.

            Tara stares at the information she scribbled down.  Two addresses.  Two possibilities.  She decides to check out where Sophie’s phone was located first.  That’ll give her an idea of what kind of reinforcements she needs to call in.  

            The address Ryan gave her ends up being on the edge of the city, the sort of seedy place that she can only imagine what the team was up to.  The cab driver actually hesitates when she gets out.  

            “Lady, this isn’t exactly a great place for a morning stroll.”

            Tara gives him a bigger tip than necessary and tells him to forget he dropped her off here.  It’s not until he speeds away that she turns to actually look at the building.

            It’s an old two-story brick building, the kind that once upon a time was a sign of money and riches and now houses a bounty hunter’s office.  That’s interesting.  Tara wonders if it’s possible the team got arrested for something.  But she has a hard time picturing Eliot letting any bounty hunter get the better of him.  

            It doesn’t take much to pick the lock and disable the alarm.  The inside has a layer of filth and grime that Tara was half-expecting, but it doesn’t make it any nicer to hunt around in such dirty conditions.  Her Manolo Blahnik boots are going to be disgusting when she finally gets out of here.  She’s sending a bill for new ones to Sophie.  Once she finds her, that is.

            The room is pretty empty save a desk with a computer on it.  Tara boots up the computer and searches the recent files.  There’s nothing with any alias she recognizes or remembers the team using, but that doesn’t mean much.  Hardison is constantly creating new identities for them to use.  She prints off the recent files just in case.  Then she pulls up the security camera feeds for earlier that morning.  She sees the van - Lucille - pull up around 4 in the morning.  Then the feed goes dead.

            Tara logs off and heads outside.  Either Hardison shut down the security cameras - a distinct possibility - or someone else did.  At least she knows that he was here.  That’s progress, sort of.

            There’s an alley next to the building, and Tara wanders down it, her eyes trained on the ground.  About halfway down, she finds the shattered remains of a phone.  She picks it up and pockets it.  Maybe Ryan will be able to get something off of it.  Unlikely, but it’s worth a try.  She looks around, trying to picture what happened.  There’s no real sign of a struggle apart from the phone.  Sophie could have dropped it and ran.  Or she could have been grabbed unexpectedly.  The one thing that Tara takes comfort in is that there’s no sign of blood in the alley.

            There is, however, blood spattered against the front of the building.  Tara’s not sure how she missed it when she arrived.  It’s a glaring sign of what happened here.  

            The pieces are starting to add up.  The team was pulling some sort of job here.  Sophie called her - for advice, for help, for _something_ \- when someone on the team was shot at.  Probably Eliot.  Sophie dropped the phone and ran from the alley to the front of the building.  And then - she doesn’t know.  

            The van is still parked across the street.  Tara walks over and finds it unlocked - yet another thing that’s more than a little alarming.  Hardison would never leave Lucille unlocked and vulnerable like this, not unless something bad happened.  She climbs inside and looks around.  There’s not much.  Hardison’s laptop is missing, and a half-drunk bottle of orange soda sits next to the empty space.  She finds a taser on the ground - Parker’s probably.  

            Tara searches the van, hoping to find more clues.  Nothing.  The best she finds are the keys.  At least she can drive Hardison’s precious van back to the brew pub.

            It’s noon by the time she returns.  The brew pub is busy this time, open for lunch.  Tara walks inside.  She’s not sure what she’s hoping for.  It’s not like she’s going to find anything here, especially not with this many people around.

            “Would you like to sit at the bar or a table?”  A young woman asks her, interrupting her thoughts.  “Oh - wait.  You’re one of Sophie’s friends, right?”

            Tara turns her attention to the woman standing in front of her.  “Sorry?  Who are you?”

            “Amy.  We met -”

            “Right.  Last year.”  Tara looks around.  “Can we talk in private for a minute?”

            Amy nods.  “The storeroom is empty.”  She offers.  She leads Tara through the kitchen and into the back storeroom.  “So what’s up?”

            “When was the last time you heard from any of them?”

            Amy frowns.  “Two days ago.  Parker told me they had another job.  She said they’d be back later today.  Why?”

            “I got a call from Sophie.  I think they’re in trouble.  Do you know anything?”

            “Not really.  They don’t tell me much, and, to be honest, I prefer it that way.”  Amy pauses to think.  “The best I can offer is that I heard Eliot talking about possibly needing to get Quinn.  I don’t know if that helps.”

            “It might.  Thanks, Amy.  Mind if I use the back room?”

            “Go for it.”  Amy says.  

            For a second time that day, Tara heads to the back room where the team does all their planning.  She pulls out her phone and, after a moment’s hesitation, calls Quinn.  

            “I’m kinda in the middle of something, here.”  Quinn barks into the phone.  There’s a crash in the background that sounds suspiciously like a body flying into glass.  “Nevermind.  I’m free.  What’s up?”

            “I need you to come to Portland.”  Tara says.  “The team’s in trouble.”

            “This have anything to do with that job Eliot was telling me about yesterday?  I told him I could make it out there tomorrow, and he said that would work.”

            “Yeah.  What else did he tell you?”

            “Come on, Tara, you know Eliot.  He doesn’t talk on phones.  Told me to get my ass to Portland as soon as possible, and that’s it.”

            “Okay, well, I need you to get to Portland today.”

            Quinn hums thoughtfully.  “I should be able to swing that.  I’ll see you tonight.”

            He hangs up.  Tara stares at her phone for a minute.  She has a hitter now.  She wonders if she’s going to need anyone else.

            As if reading her mind, the phone rings only moments later.  It’s Ryan.

            “What do you have for me?”

            “I take it the address was a bust?”  Ryan asks.  “Please tell me you haven’t gone to see Drummond yet.”

            “Not yet.  I was about to head out.”

            “Well, don’t.  Not until you have backup.”

            “Shit.  Why?”  Tara asks.

            Ryan sighs.  “I just had time to pull up his file.  He’s got a history with the FBI - White Collar Crimes, mostly - going back about a decade.  Nasty guy.  All sorts of suspected ties with other dangerous guys.  You know the type.”

            “Yeah, I do.”  Tara frowns.  “I’ve got backup coming into town.  Send me the file, okay?”

            “Already did.”

            They hang up, and Tara pulls up the information Ryan sent her on her phone.  Drummond certainly seems like the type of guy that the team would go after.  The question is what made them do it now.  She searches for any news references for Drummond.  Maybe there’s a clue there as to why the team is going after him.

            And there is.  Tara pulls up a recent article about Drummond and a recent development project the man is working on.  He’s kicking out all the current residents of a low-income neighborhood - the one Tara was just in - leaving them with nowhere to live.  It’s exactly the sort of reason why the team would be interested in having a little talk with him.

            At least now she knows the why.  Now she needs to figure out what sort of con the team decided to play.  That’s going to be a bit trickier, but at least she has the benefit of knowing how Sophie approaches cons.  Nate, too, to a lesser extent.  

            Tara loses track of time as she runs various cons in her head, trying to piece together what the team might have been doing when they disappeared.  She’s surprised by a knock at the door.  Amy’s standing there, shadowed by Quinn.

            “You got here fast.”  Tara says.  

            “It sounded bad.”  Quinn frowns.  “I should’ve gotten here earlier, when Eliot called me.”

            Tara eyes him.  “You aren’t feeling guilty, are you?”

            “I don’t feel guilt.”  Quinn says.  “Ever.”  He glances around the room.  “Any clues?”

            “A few.”  Tara looks at Amy.  “You want to help?”

            “Yeah.”  Amy says, stepping fully into the room and shutting the door.  “I’m worried.  They normally tell me when they need me to run the place.”

            Tara quickly fills them both in on what she’s learned so far.  “We need to go visit Drummond.”

            “The guy who probably kidnapped the whole team?”  Amy asks.  “Are you kidding?”

            “Do you have a better idea?”

            “I don’t know.  Did you track their phones?”

            Tara nods.  “Already done.  Sophie’s is shattered outside the building where they got taken.  Hardison’s is in the van.  Parker doesn’t carry one, and there’s nothing on Nate’s or Eliot’s.”

            “Okay.  Fine.  Maybe visiting Drummond isn’t a bad idea.”  Amy says.

            “Oh, no, it’s a bad idea.”  Quinn says.  “But I think it’s our only option.  How are we going in?”

            The other two stare at her expectantly, and Tara works much better alone than she does in a team.  She almost tells them that she’ll just go do it herself, but that would be a monumentally stupid thing to do.  

            “Amy, you and I are posing as buyers interested in being a part of this development project Drummond is working on.  Quinn is going to take a look around while we’re talking and see what he can come up with.”  

            That’s how, an hour and a half later, Tara and Amy end up walking into a very modern office building and just pushing their way into seeing Drummond.  Tara learned years ago that acting like you belong gets you pretty damn far.

            “Kevin, dear, I’m so glad to see you.”  Tara says, air kissing the man before he can react.  “It’s been ages.”

            Drummond pulls back and frowns at her.  “Who are you?  How did you get in here?”

            Tara pouts dramatically.  “You don’t remember?  We met at that awful meeting in LA.  Jackie introduced us.”  

            There’s nothing better than convincing someone of something that isn’t true.  Tara watches as the confusion on Drummond’s face fades away and has to hide a smirk.  “Oh, of course.  Forgive me.  Ah -”

            “Grace Stanley.  And this is my associate, Ari Marsh.”  Tara easily introduces Amy.  “I hate to drop in on you like this, but I heard about your newest project and I just happened to have some money burning a hole in my pocket - well, you know how it is.”

            Drummond nods along.  Tara’s favorite method of duping men - whoever they may be - is to talk quickly and remind them about money.  It works nearly every time.  Sophie would point out that it’s not exactly subtle, but Tara has less patience than Sophie.  Not that she’ll ever admit that.

            “Anyways, I want to talk to you about investing.  I know, I know, the lawyers will have to sort it all out, but in the meantime, how does a twenty million dollar investment sound?”

            Now she’s got him.  The man has dollar signs in his eyes.  Tara just hopes that Quinn is having just as much luck as they are.  

            Tara breezes out of the office twenty minutes later, Amy almost running to catch up.  “What, exactly, did that accomplish?”  Amy asks as they leave the building.  

            “You have a lot to learn about being a thief.”  Tara tells her.

            “I don’t want to be a thief.”  Amy says.  “How many times do I have to tell you people?”

            Tara opts to ignore that.  “Quinn is going to arrive any moment and tell us that he discovered they’re being held somewhere in the building.”  Tara says, because she’s had a hunch ever since they walked in that the team was nearby.  Drummond seems like the kind of man who likes to keep his enemies close by.  “So we’re going to need to get in tonight.  And now I have a key card.”  She holds up the card in question.  “Swiped it off of him when we said goodbye.”

            “Couldn’t you just break in?”

            “If I had a full team, with a hacker and a decent thief, sure.”  Tara answers as she scans the street for any sign of Quinn.  She finally spots him heading towards them.  “But I don’t.  Always work with the tools you have, not the ones you wish you had.”

            “There’s a sub-basement.”  Quinn announces once he’s in earshot.  “Can’t get down there without a key card.  It’s being guarded by two armed guards.  I can take them out, but you’d need a card -”  He trails off as Tara flashes the card at him.  “Tonight?”

            “Tonight.”  Tara agrees.

            A proper job would require at least a week of planning.  They don’t have a week, though.  It’s been twelve hours since Sophie and the team disappeared.  Tara hopes her hunch is right.  They really can’t afford to be wasting time breaking in somewhere the team isn’t.  

            Amy - after asking if she’s needed - decides to return to the brew pub with the agreement that she’ll call in more reinforcements if Tara and Quinn don’t return by morning.  Who those reinforcements may be isn’t clear to Tara, but Amy seems to know.

            They wait until it gets dark.  Quinn and Tara pass the time by trading stories of what they’ve been up to since the last time they worked a job together nearly three years ago.  

            “And then - I swear to God - the guy comes out on a camel.”  Quinn is saying.  Tara’s about to tell him about the time she and Sophie stole a circus when she spots Drummond leaving for the day.

            “Ten minutes.”  She tells Quinn.  “Let’s head for the delivery entrance.”

            It’s surprisingly easy to walk into the building.  Tara’s dressed as a janitor and Quinn - in his standard slightly rumpled suit - as a security guard.  Quinn flashes the key card to the guard on duty and says something about it being Tara’s first day and he’s making sure she knows where she’s going.  They are able to get onto the elevator without any problems.  

            The elevator only goes down to the basement, but Quinn has scoped out the building and knows where the staircase down to the sub-basement is.  He leads Tara down a hallway and takes several turns before stopping.  

            “I’ll take care of these guards, but reinforcements are going to come in quick.”  Quinn says, and Tara nods.  They didn’t have the equipment to hack into the building’s security system, so as soon as someone notices what’s happening, they’re screwed.  “Get Eliot free first.  Unless he’s hurt.  Then send Parker.  I’m going to need help.”

            “Got it.”

            Quinn shakes out his hands and walks around the corner.  Tara is only a few steps behind him.  She dodges one of the security guards, leaving him for Quinn to take care of, and quickly takes out the second.  She pulls the key card out and swipes it.  The lock clicks open, and she’s quick to open the door and head down the flight of stairs that’s just inside.  

            There are two more guards down here, and Tara hadn’t exactly been expecting that.  She swings her elbow up and catches the first guard on the chin.  He staggers backwards.  She turns quickly and punches the second guard several times in succession.  While he’s down, she turns her attention back to the first guard.  She manages to catch him around the neck and apply enough pressure to knock him unconscious.  She’s a little less elegant with the second guard.  She slams him backwards and he hits his head against the wall.  He slumps sideways, completely out of it, and Tara turns her attention to the rest of the room.  

            Eliot’s slumped in a chair.  He’s handcuffed, but it’s not exactly necessary, seeing as the man is so out of it that he doesn’t even recognize Tara.  There’s no way he’s going to be any help to Quinn.

            “Tara?”  Parker asks.  Tara pulls out her lockpicking set and quickly frees Parker from the many layers of handcuffs and binds that keep her locked up.  “What are you -”

            “No questions.  Go up the stairs.  Quinn needs your help.”  Tara orders.  Parker nods and runs off.  Tara turns her attention to the rest of the room.  

            “Took you long enough.”  Sophie says from the far corner.  “I called you yesterday.”

            “No, you called me this morning.”  Tara says.  “And just for that, I’m freeing you last.”

She gets to work on Hardison’s cuffs.  “Here, get Eliot free.”  She tells him, handing him a lock pick.  

            Nate is next, followed by Sophie - because when Tara says something, she means it.  Once all of them are free, and Eliot’s weight is being supported by Nate and Hardison, they head up the stairs to the sound of serious fighting.  

            Quinn barely glances at them.  “Head for the exit.  We’ll hold them off as long as possible.  Give you guys some time.”

            It takes a long time - too long - to get Eliot up to the lobby.  Two more guards rush at them when the elevator opens, and thank God Nate has such a wicked left hook.  

            It’s not until they’re outside and Nate is behind the wheel and Quinn and Parker are running out of the building that Tara relaxes.  Nate pulls away from the curb before the door is even closed.  

            “That was not elegant.”  Sophie tells Tara.  

            “You cannot seriously be complaining about how I rescued you.”  Tara says.  “I got you out of there, didn’t I?”

            “We got them out of there.”  Quinn corrects, then groans when Nate goes over a bump and the movement jostles what are surely a few broken ribs.  

            “I’m just saying, we would have been much more - in control of the situation.”  Sophie says.  

            “That’s because you would have a hacker.”  Tara snaps.  “I - we - went in blind.”

            Sophie smirks.  “I thought you liked working alone.”

            Tara doesn’t bother answering.  She just levels _a look_ at Sophie, and her long-time friend grins back at her.  

            “So how are you taking down Drummond?”  Quinn asks.  When several heads turn to look at him - Tara’s included - he rolls his eyes.  “Come on, you have to have a plan.  What the hell else was Nate doing for the past eighteen hours?”

            Nate sighs.  “Trying to keep Eliot awake.”  He says, and they’re definitely headed towards the hospital.  Eliot’s going to be pissed when he’s a bit more conscious, but he needs to be patched up before any lasting damage is done.  

            Tara frowns.  Nate doesn’t have a plan, Eliot’s out of commission, and Quinn’s not exactly in the best shape.  A plan starts to form in her head.  It’s not going to be the most elegant of plans, but she wants Drummond locked up sooner rather than later.  

            “Hardison, I’m going to need you to transfer some money into Drummond’s account.”  Tara says.  She’s thinking of a case that Ryan’s been whining about for the last month.  She could kill two birds with one stone if she does this right.  Tara calls Ryan.  He answers quickly.  “Ryan, I’ve got an answer to that mob case you’ve been working on.  All I need is the bank account number.”  

            Ryan knows her, knows her well enough to know that she’s up to something.  But he rattles off the number and Tara recites it to Hardison.  It doesn’t take long for Hardison to transfer a couple million from the mob boss to Drummond’s account.  

            “Ryan, tomorrow morning, all you have to do is check out an unusual money transfer between a mob boss and a businessman in Portland.  It should be enough to take them both down.  And I want both.”

            “Got it.”  Ryan pauses.  “Actually, I can send a team tonight, if you want.”

            Tara grins.  “Even better.”  She ends the call.  “Done.”  She tells the others in the van.  “Was that elegant enough for you, Sophie?”

            “Elegant, but boring.”  Sophie says with a sniff.

            After a four hour visit to the ER, in which Nate somehow managed to convince the nurses that Quinn and Eliot were in a car accident despite the obvious fight wounds they both had, they end up at the brew pub.  Amy’s still there.  

            Hardison passes around glasses of his latest creation, and Eliot’s alert enough to give everyone something they can actually drink.  Tara and Sophie end up in a booth in the far corner.  

            “Thanks, by the way.”  Sophie says.

            “Gonna tell me what happened?”

            Sophie smiles.  “I thought you figured it out.”

            Tara shrugs.  “Bounty hunter is connected to Drummond.  Eliot gets shot at, beat up.  Rest of the team goes to help and gets cornered.  About right?”

            “Pretty much.”  Sophie says.  “They actually shot at the van first.  Thanks for saving her, by the way.  Hardison was never going to let any of us forget it if anything happened to Lucille.”

            Tara raises her glass and clinks it against Sophie’s.  “Cheers.”  She says.  “It was fun.”

            Sophie looks at her suspiciously but apparently agrees because she tips her glass back at Tara.  “Thanks, though.  Really.”

            “Anytime, Sophie.”  Tara says, and she means it.  She doesn’t want to work with a team full-time, but every once in a while it’s fun.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed your fic, babythor! I don't really write case fics, so this was a new experience for me.


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